Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette
	Evelyn Savido is among those baby boomers entering her sixth decade. Click her photo for her story and those of three others.
	The Series Day One: Brand new 60s for baby boomers Day One: Four enter decade feeling that life begins at 60 Day Two: First wave of baby boomers pursues a high-energy lifestyle Day Two: Whatever you do, don't dare call me Grandma Day Three: Boomers still steer pop culture but will eventually lose driver's seat Day Four: Young end of Boomer political spectrum skews right of the middle Day Four: 'Younger-thinking' boomers likely to relocate home to right size house Chat Transcript: The authors of this series field questions and observations from readers

By sheer force of its numbers, the generation of Americans born between 1946 and 1964 has created its own reality.

Baby boomers, all 78 million of them, trampled boisterously through every facet of American life, shattering convention, rewriting the rules, pushing, pulling and shaping things to their liking before moving on to the next stage.

Born between the first underwater test of the atomic bomb and the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, they defined their tumultuous times even as they were defined by them. Music, fashion, sexuality, race, religion, rebellion, drugs, law, politics, gender, family, marketing, the media, the military and the workplace, for better or worse, boomers remade them all.

As the leading edge of the baby boom turns 60 this year, the generation that didn't trust anyone over 30 is crossing the threshold into senior-land. And, true to form, it is not taking it lying down.

Members of this cohort see themselves as different from their parents at 60. They are healthier, in better shape and younger-looking, even without Botox. They'll also live longer, and tend to think and feel younger than the number 60 implies.

"When I think of my mother at 40, active, vibrant, very involved, that's how I feel now. It does seem like 60 [today] could be the new 40," said social worker Evelyn Savido, of Plum, who turns 60 in October and recently began taking African drumming lessons.

"I think we're going to rewrite what retirement means," said nonprofit consultant Kate Dewey, who just celebrated her 60th birthday. "What we do and how we look will be very different than prior generations. It's not going to be a passive experience."

If they have that experience at all, that is. Says bookstore owner George Hines III, of Vandergrift: "I'm looking forward to 60. It's a nice round number. But I don't know if I'll ever retire."

Some 3.4 million babies were born in the postwar exuberance of 1946, 600,000 more than in the year before. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also the year Dr. Benjamin Spock published his revolutionary parenting guide, "Baby and Child Care."

Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were born in 1946, along with a long roster of other famous people, from Candace Bergen and Reggie Jackson to Connie Chung and Danny Glover. The boomer vanguard includes Gidget (Sally Field), Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton).

	Notable events of 1946 Dr. Benjamin Spock publishes "Baby and Child Care." The United Nations holds its first meeting. The University of Pennsylvania unveils the first computer designed for general usage. Ho Chi Minh is elected president of North Vietnam. Shops in Paris introduce the bikini swim suit. The Flamingo Hotel opens in Las Vegas. Souce: Wikipedia.org

Allegheny County has 12,000 people turning 60 this year, according to the 2000 census, with another 354,000 boomers to follow in their wake over the next 18 years. Together, they account for 28.5 percent of the county's population.

That relatively high percentage says more about how few younger people live here than it does about how many boomers remain, according to University of Pittsburgh researcher Christopher Briem.

Metropolitan Pittsburgh lost more population in the 1980s than any other urban area. The collapse of steel, the loss of Gulf Oil and other major corporations drove away thousands of people in their prime working years.

"When the boomers left, they took their future children and grandchildren with them," Mr. Briem said. "We now have disproportionately fewer people under 45."

That could explain why seven of the 10 out-of-state counties that picked up the most ex-Pittsburghers that decade have a lower percentage of boomers than this region. Another possible factor: Those places have more foreign immigrants who have more children, while immigration to Pittsburgh is minuscule.

As with any demographic, Americans born in 1946 are not all of a piece. The Woodstock-era images of long-haired college students in fringed ponchos, born into relative affluence, frolicking in the rain or protesting with raised fists, are big in the cultural mythology. But, in truth, the early boomers in their youth ran the gamut from straight-arrow to hellion.

Some went to Vietnam and some found ways not to. Plenty smoked pot and marched for a cause, while plenty of others went into the steel mills or corporate America, started families or went to school at night. As they turn 60, then, they don't necessarily feel a kinship with each other.

"I feel somewhat cut off from my generation," said Vietnam veteran Don Miller, of Freedom. "I assume part of the responsibility for that. If I meet someone my age who isn't a vet, we don't have a common denominator."

Sandy Arch-Evans, of Tarentum, a middle school guidance counselor, retired Thursday. "When I hit college, I didn't know who Jack Kerouac was, or the Grateful Dead. My friends wanted to go to Woodstock, and I said, 'What for?' "

Yet one thing many boomers share is a sense of having changed history.

	Where the Pittsburghers went Even though metropolitan Pittsburgh lost more population in the 1980s than any other urban area, Allegheny County today has a relatively high percentage of baby boomers -- not because there are so many of them, but because there are so few members of succeeding generations. Here are the top 10 non-Pennsylvania counties to which Pittsburghers migrated, along with their current percentages of baby boomers in the population. Allegheny County, with 28.5 percent, is higher than six of them. 1. Fairfax, Va. (Alexandria), 33.2 percent 2. Los Angeles, 26.6 percent 3. Palm Beach, Fla., 26.3 percent 4. Maricopa, Ariz. (Phoenix), 26 percent 5. Montgomery, Md. (Rockville) 31.6 6. Pinellas, Fla. (St. Petersburg) 28.3 7. Cuyahoga, Ohio (Cleveland) 27.7 8. Broward, Fla. (Ft. Lauderdale) 29 9. Monongalia, W.Va. (Morgantown) 24.6 10. San Diego, 27.4 Source: 2000 census and Post-Gazette research

"We basically said there's no issue that's not on the table," Ms. Dewey said. "We saw ourselves as change agents, not willing to accept things the way they were."

"The advancements in human rights, civil rights, women's rights, the anti-war movement, all of those changes were very positive and had lasting value," said the Rev. Mark Skertich, parish priest at St. Rose of Lima in Darlington.

"It was a great time to come of age," said Father Skertich, who taught high school physics for several years before entering the seminary.

It was an exciting time for Catholics, he said.

"With the Second Vatican Council, things I never thought would happen were happening, almost overnight."

The boomer vanguard is also marked by insistence on self-definition.

"Being a woman of color, I was very aware that certain words were being handed to me," Ms. Savido said. "In the '50s, we were 'colored,' and in the '60s we were 'Negro.' But I identified myself as black, and, for the first time, you saw people insisting on having that choice."

Ms. Arch-Evans said: "Our parents followed the rules and were very much conforming to the prevailing culture. We self-defined."

That includes physically. Ms. Arch-Evans, for example, treated herself to a "quick lift" of her lower face. "I don't think I look younger now, just better."

Having turned 60 on the first day of 2006, Father Skertich said, he wonders what lies ahead.

"I'm somewhat concerned about my health as I get older, but I figure I have at least 10 more years of active ministry. I see myself mellowing rather than fermenting."